As fresh and easygoing as a beach house can be, Candia Fisher’s modernist retreat on Martha’s Vineyard abounds with museum-quality treasures. On display throughout the oceanfront residence is an extraordinary trove of artworks by such masters as Georgia O’Keeffe, Josef Albers, Robert Rauschenberg, Agnes Martin, Ed Ruscha, Gerhard Richter, Alex Katz, and Andy Warhol. Some of these pieces were acquired by Fisher, others by her mother, Emily Fisher Landau, the legendary collector who died earlier this year at the age of 102.
Complementing the art is an array of distinguished furnishings, including designs by Diego Giacometti, Jean Prouvé, Claude Lalanne, Gio Ponti, and Warren McArthur. “Eighty percent of the furniture is art,” says Jim Aman, who with his partner, John Meeks, of the New York firm Aman & Meeks, recently oversaw the restoration and decoration of the notable house, a plank-wood, single-story structure designed by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes in the early 1970s.
An Agnes Martin painting is a luminous presence in the sunroom, where a Warren McArthur sofa is grouped with a Robert Koch steel table, a Jean Prouvé side table, and a vintage wicker floor lamp. Photo: Karen Fuchs. Styled by Philippa Brathwaite
Even with the important collections, the house projects a decidedly relaxed vibe, offering stunning views of the sea from nearly every room. “There’s a low-key glamour, but everything is very simple and casual,” Meeks says.
Yet when Fisher purchased the six-acre property a few years ago, she wasn’t sure the house could be salvaged. “It was in such terrible condition, it was fifty-fifty whether to tear it down or try to save it,” she recalls.
Designed by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes in the early 1970s, Candia Fisher’s home on Martha’s Vineyard sits atop an oceanfront bluff, allowing most rooms to have stunning views of the sea. Jim Aman and John Meeks, partners in the design firm Aman & Meeks, oversaw renovations to the house, outfitting the terraces along the back with furniture by The Roger Thomas Collection and Walters as well as Tuuci umbrellas. Photo: Karen Fuchs. Styled by Philippa Brathwaite
A walk-through with another eminent architect, her friend Norman Foster, convinced her to preserve the building. “His face lit up,” remembers Fisher. “I wouldn’t change a thing,” he told her.
“Well, we’re going to change a few things,” she responded.
Those alterations, however, were about thoughtfully updating rather than reinventing or adding on. “A house like this deserves a second chance,” she says. “As I look around today, it’s exactly as it was. We even kept the hardware. It’s still distinctly Barnes.”
Another Agnes Martin work hangs in the home’s entrance area, which is furnished with an Alberto Giacometti floor lamp and a Claude Lalanne chair, bench, and table, the latter hosting a 19th-century Chinese Buddha; the glass box sculpture is by Larry Bell, and the carpet, as throughout the house, is by Stark. Photo: Karen Fuchs. Styled by Philippa Brathwaite
Aman and Meeks did add a new fireplace, built from stones collected on Fisher’s beach, and the duo stripped and either bleached or painted white the dark woodwork that clad much of the interior—except for the study, where they preserved a duskier feel. “It’s now lighter, brighter, and happier,” says Meeks.
Another goal was for the home to be low-maintenance. “For the drapery, we used one fabric—kind of a scuba material, which doesn’t hold moisture,” explains Aman. “Then we upholstered everything, even the Prouvé daybed, in high-performance white woven fabrics.”
A Josef Albers painting overlooks the primary suite’s bed, which is dressed in Frette linens accented with a vintage obi and is flanked by custom nightstands and plaster lamps from BK Antiques; a work by Lynn Davis is displayed above the Gio Ponti dresser, while a Warren McArthur chaise and floor lamp make for a cozy reading spot. Photo: Karen Fuchs. Styled by Philippa Brathwaite
When it came to installing the art—which includes a diverse range of objects, from tribal art to Scandinavian ceramics—the designers’ brief was to arrange everything in a way that “looks great and cohesive,” says Aman, who with his partner also designed several other residences for Fisher in New York City, Palm Beach, and Greenwich, Connecticut.
Growing up in New York, Fisher learned about collecting from the best. “My mother inspired me to appreciate art and to look at art through her eyes, which were so special,” she says. “I have really tried to emulate my mother because I just can’t do it any better than she did.”
The living room features a Jean Prouvé daybed, a Mouseman chair upholstered in Edelman saddle leather, and a custom sofa arranged around a Diego Giacometti table with a Kiki Smith sculpture. An Elie Nadelman head perches next to the windows, a Georgia O’Keeffe painting is mounted on the Aman & Meeks–designed shelves, and a Nancy Dwyer ME block rests on the other side of the daybed. In the adjacent dining area, an Alexander Calder mobile is suspended over the custom dining table and Warren McArthur chairs, while an Ed Ruscha painting hangs on the far wall, and a Frank Gehry fish sculpture stands near the glass sliders curtained in a Larsen fabric that the designers used throughout. Photo: Karen Fuchs. Styled by Philippa Brathwaite
In the 1960s, when Emily was raising Fisher and her two siblings on the Upper East Side, she started to collect informally (using as seed money a large insurance settlement she received after a heist of her spectacular jewelry collection). According to family lore, Emily’s first major acquisition was an Alexander Calder mobile from 1948. After buying the four-by-three-foot work directly from its owner, who lived on Central Park West, she carried it home on a crosstown bus.
An Ed Ruscha artwork and an Alexander Calder mobile in the dining area of Candia Fisher’s home on Martha’s Vineyard. Photo: Karen Fuchs. Styled by Philippa Brathwaite
“My mother inspired me to appreciate art and to look at art through her eyes, which were so special”
Candia Fisher
In the oak-paneled study, a Gerhard Richter painting hangs above a vintage butler’s tray table, behind a pair of Warren McArthur armchairs covered in a Perennials fabric with cushions in a Larsen tribal print. Photo: Karen Fuchs. Styled by Philippa Brathwaite
Eventually, Emily transformed a 25,000-square-foot factory in Long Island City into the Fisher Landau Center for Art to house her collection, showcasing works by Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, Mark Rothko, Jean Dubuffet, and Fernand Léger as well as contemporary artists, until it closed in 2017. Fisher is putting some of these gems up for auction at Sotheby’s on November 8. Estimated to be worth as much as $500 million, the trove includes a 1932 Picasso that is considered to be among the finest still in private hands.
A major event it will doubtless be. But one item that certainly isn’t headed to the block is the Calder mobile, which dangles from the dining room ceiling in Martha’s Vineyard. “It brings a sense of lightness as it moves slowly, ever changing in the air,” says Fisher. “It’s very dear to me.”
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2023 Collectors Issue under the headline “Radiant Refuge.” Subscribe to the magazine.
